Mindfulness practice

What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is a natural state of relaxed, open awareness in which our attention rests with our experience. In such a state we are very awake within our body and naturally connected to our heart. As we set our tender roots into the basic ground of the present moment, we develop stability; we become more capable of staying present for ourselves and others, even as circumstances and conditions shift and change.

​Mindfulness practices steadily nurture and strengthen our inborn capacity for clarity and compassion. They help us to rediscover the restful stillness that underlies the ebb and flow of thoughts, sensations, and emotions. They awaken our natural sense of wonder at existence, our capacity for openness and curiosity, and our sense of deep connection to all beings.

If we want there to be peace in the world, we have to be brave enough to soften what is rigid in our hearts, to find the soft spot and stay with it. We have to have that kind of courage and take that kind of responsibility. That's the true practice of peace.

- Pema Chodron

Yin yoga

Yin yogais a subtle practice of long-held, supine postures designed to safely stimulate and open the 'yin' parts of the body - the bones, the joints, and the connective tissues that bind them. Because these relatively dry and inflexible tissues must be explored gradually and with care, each posture is inhabited passively (with the muscles relaxed) for 3-5 minutes at a time.

As different areas of the body are pressurized or very slowly expanded, deep sensation arises. This sensation, woven through with calm and continuous breath, becomes a wonderful anchor for ongoing mindfulness practice. Softening and opening to what we feel and how this changes over time naturally awakens us to the interconnected wisdoms of our physical, mental, emotional, and energetic bodies.

Cleansing and opening to the energetic pathways of the body, Yin leaves us feeling deeply refreshed and restored. The many benefits of this quiet practice include: